Dark Objects by Simon Toyne

 

A wealthy woman is discovered brutally murdered in her "fortress" home and her husband is missing. a number of objects are carefully positioned on the floor around her body. As the police investigate her murder they try to unravel the meaning of these objects and wonder if there is a connection to a serial killer who was caught fifteen years ago.

This is my first novel by Simon Toyne and it didn't disappoint. Toyne certainly knows how to pack a punch. The opening is slow and gradual, building the tension, keeping the reader in suspense so that you feel your pulse increasing and your heart racing until we are hit with the shock of a dead body. This technique is used skillfully a number of times throughout the story and just as the bombshell moment is about to be revealed we are whisked away to a different character to keep the suspense going. 

The lead characters, DCI Tannahill Khan and Dr Laughton Rees, are both likeable and their dynamic together works really well. We don't get quite as much backstory regarding Khan as we do with Rees. Laughton Rees is a flawed character as a result of previous trauma. As the story progresses you could feel all the emotions Rees was dealing with; frustration, anger, uncertainty and terror. I would love to see the relationship between these two characters develop in a second novel.

Possible links to a serial killer, along with someone who seems to be able to break into an impregnable home, give the story a really chilling edge and make you realise the danger the police and their families face at times because of the nature of the job and the criminals they are hunting.

Dark Objects by Simon Toyne will be published on 7th July 2022 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for a review copy.